Here’s a possible movie plot: A man is hired by a city in a very junior role, say, as a sanitation worker, where he toils for 12 years. On his own time, he decides to give back to his community by, say, joining a community association, eventually becoming president.

The city takes a position that is opposed by the association, having nothing to do with his area of employment.

Why are suburban commuters, who have few public-transit options, always expected to subsidize through higher fares transit service levels that Vancouver exclusively enjoys?

We need an honest discussion about service levels in Vancouver and how much that costs the rest of the system.

TransLink and the province need to look long and hard about how much longer they will get away with taxing commuters and the outer cities to generate money to feed the Vancouver beast. There should always be money available for non-Vancouver projects.

This would make sense if this collaborative learning in small groups led to kids learning their times tables. However, it tends to offer a greater opportunity for kids to either chat, listen to music or text their buddies. Let’s face it, traditional teachers tend to be stricter, more observant and don’t spend their time sitting behind a computer screen. I guess we need to reach rock bottom before things will change. This latest report suggests that we are well on our way.

John Clench, Vancouver

Cherry should go

Growing up in the Foster Hewitt Hockey Night In Canada era, Don Cherry was a sore substitute. As your editorial pointed out, his bias and rude comments may have garnered him fans but the game lost viewers, including me and my father before he passed away.

Cherry is abrasive and certainly not “Mr. Hockey,” as his ego would have us believe. He should hang up his jackets and celluloid collars. The joke has run its course.

Barbara Ewart, Maple Ridge

Ratings questioned

Your Don Cherry editorial mentioned ratings dropping after the first period during Coach’s Corner. There was no mention that this is when many men are dragged kicking and screaming away from the game to get ready to take their significant others out to dinner.

Don Pugsley, Pitt Meadows

Some live by Cherry’s views

I have long held the same view of Don Cherry expressed in your editorial. I’m one of those viewers who changes the channel when he comes on. His bias against the Canucks and the Sedins has been in our faces for a long time. I have a couple of friends who live and die by Cherry’s opinions and don’t like it when I tell them what I think.

Larry O’Byrne, Chilliwack

Illogical letter

Province reader Peter Rose needs to consider the fact that the health effects of exposure to electromagnetic radiation are cumulative. To suggest that as we are already exposed from other sources and therefore shouldn’t worry about smart meters makes no sense.

Scott Henderson, Vancouver

We didn’t study Vancouver

I’m the research director at YouthfulCities, the subject of a recent editorial. I’d like to point out that Vancouver wasn’t included in this first year of research. We included 25 cities, more or less the largest cities in terms of population in the five regions of the world included this year. We fully intend to include Vancouver in our 2015 Index.

Since Vancouver wasn’t in our 2014 index, your claims regarding what makes Vancouver unappealing to youth are not reflected by our work. While I agree with your remark regarding low pay and a high cost of living being unappealing to youth, compared to many cities we studied, Vancouver has a relatively high minimum wage, although not a living wage.

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